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Hans Hofmann -
Nature
Quotes
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The difference between the arts arises because of the difference in the
nature
of the mediums of expression and the emphasis induced by the
nature
of each medium. Each means of expression has its own order of being, its own units.
Hans Hofmann
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Every work of art is the product of the artist's power for conscious feeling, and of his sensitivity to life-in-
nature
and life within the limits of his medium.
Hans Hofmann
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Artistic intuition is the basis for confidence of the spirit. Art is a reflection of the spirit, a result of introspection, which finds expression in the
nature
of the art medium.
Hans Hofmann
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Creation is dominated by three absolutely different factors: First,
nature
, which works upon us by its laws; second, the artist, who creates a spiritual contact with
nature
and his materials; third, the medium of expression through which the artist translates his inner world. Of those three components only one, the medium, is material.
Hans Hofmann
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The impulse of
nature
, fused through the personality of the artist by laws arising from the particular
nature
of the medium, produces the rhythm and the personal expression of a work. Then the life of the composition becomes a spiritual unity.
Hans Hofmann
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The creative process lies not in imitating, but in paralleling
nature
— translating the impulse received from
nature
into the medium of expression, thus vitalizing this medium. The picture should be alive, the statue should be alive, and every work of art should be alive.
Hans Hofmann
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Painting is aesthetic enjoyment; I want to be a 'poet'. As an artist I must conform to my
nature
. My
nature
has a lyrical as well as a dramatic disposition. Not one day is the same. One day I feel wonderful to work and I feel an expression, which shows in the work. Only with a very clear mind on a clear day I can paint without interruptions and without food because my disposition is like that. My work should reflect my moods and the greatest enjoyment I had when I did the work...
Hans Hofmann
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My aim in painting is to create pulsating, luminous, and open surfaces that emanate a mystic light, in accordance with my deepest insight into the experience of life and
nature
.
Hans Hofmann
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My paintings are always images of my whole psychic makeup. You cannot deny yourself. You ask, am I painting myself? I'd been a swindler if I did otherwise. I'd be denying my existence as an artist. I've been also asked, what do you want to convey? And I say, nothing but my own
nature
... I am nothing but an optimist.
Hans Hofmann
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Being inexhaustible, life and
nature
are a constant stimulus for a creative mind.
Hans Hofmann
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The relative meaning of two physical facts in an emotionally controlled relation always creates the phenomenon of a third fact of a higher order, just as two musical sounds, heard simultaneously create the phenomenon of a third, fourth or fifth. The
nature
of this higher third is non-physical. In a sense it is magic. Each such phenomenon always overshadows the material qualities and the limited meaning of the basic factors from which it has sprung. For this reason Art expresses the highest quality of the spirit when it is surreal in
nature
; or, in terms of the visual arts, when it is of a surreal plastic
nature
.
Hans Hofmann
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Each expression-medium has a life of its own. Regulated by certain laws, it can be mastered only by intuition during the act of creating. It is in the
nature
of the laws which govern every expression medium that two separate entities, related through empathy, always produce a higher third of a purely spiritual
nature
. This spiritual third manifests itself as a quality which carries emotional content. This quality is the opposite of illusion; it is the reality of the spirit.
Hans Hofmann
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Then [speaking of his loosely figurative work of the 1930's, in Germany] I was still under
nature
, not that I was imitating it; now [1957] I am above
nature
. But everything comes from
nature
, I too am part of
nature
; my memory comes from
nature
, too.
Hans Hofmann
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Nature
's purpose in relation to the visual arts is to provide stimulus — not imitation... From its ceaseless urge to create springs all Life — all movement and rhythm — time and light, color and mood — in short, all reality in Form and Thought.
Hans Hofmann
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In
nature
, light creates the color; in the picture, color creates light. Every color shade emanates a very characteristic light — no substitute is possible.
Hans Hofmann
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This two-way transformation proceeds from metaphysical perceptions, for metaphysics is the search for the essential
nature
of reality. And so artistic creation is the metamorphosis of the external physical aspects of a thing into a self-sustaining spiritual reality. Such is the magic act which takes place continuously in the development of a work of art. On this and only on this is creation based.
Hans Hofmann
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The significance of a work of art is determined then by the quality of its growth. This involves intangible forces inherent in the process of development. Although these forces are surreal (that is, their
nature
is something beyond physical reality), they, nevertheless, depend on a physical carrier. The physical carrier (commonly painting or sculpture) is the medium of expression of the Surreal. Thus, an idea is communicable only when the surreal is converted into material terms. The artist's technical problem is how to transform the material with which he works back into the sphere of the spirit.
Hans Hofmann
Quote of the day
Good authors, too, who once knew better words Now only use four-letter words Writing prose — Anything goes.
Cole Porter
Hans Hofmann
Born:
March 21, 1880
Died:
February 17, 1966
(aged 85)
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